Chargers, Padres doctors' drug-raid documents under seal

Why are Chargers and Padres doctors under investigation for how they regulate prescription drugs?

Why did drug enforcement authorities search their offices Tuesday?

Potential answers are under court seal, leaving most to guess. Meanwhile, the agent for former Chargers safety Kevin Ellison said his client is not connected with the investigation “at all” even though Ellison was arrested five weeks ago and charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance — 100 pills of the painkiller Vicodin.

On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration served administrative inspection warrants on the teams. It was “in an attempt to verify the correctness of controlled substance inventories, records, reports and other documents required to be kept under the Controlled Substances Act and for the purpose of protecting the public health and safety,” the DEA said in a statement Tuesday.

Ellison was released by the Chargers on June 21 and has signed with the Seattle Sea- hawks.

The Chargers said in a statement that “the Vicodin in Kevin’s possession was not provided by the Chargers, its physicians or anyone affiliated with the team.”

The Chargers and Padres have said they have cooperated with the investigation and declined to comment further. The Padres said none of their players is the subject of the DEA investigation.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, “This is an active law enforcement investigation. We will fully cooperate and continue to follow developments. We refer you to the DEA for any further comment.”

The DEA has declined to comment further because the investigation is ongoing.

On Tuesday, Jim Godes, an attorney for Chargers team physician Dr. David Chao, said the investigation “didn’t seem” to be focused on Chao and instead appeared to be a broader review.

To obtain an administrative inspection warrant from a judge, the DEA has a lower threshold of justification to establish than for a search warrant. For a search warrant, law enforcement must convince a judge that a crime has been or will be committed. For an administrative inspection warrant, law enforcement needs to convince a judge that there’s a probable cause with a “valid public interest.”

The threshold to obtain an administrative inspection warrant from a judge is “very, very low,” said Chicago attorney Glen Crick, who represents health care practitioners in investigations and prosecutions.

“At the same time, it takes time for the DEA to write them up and find a (judge),” said Crick, who is not involved in the San Diego case. “What that says to me is that it’s some sort of a project. Federal employees don’t spend time that they don’t have to.”

Generally speaking, Crick said, a search under an administrative inspection warrant involves checking records of all controlled substances going in and out of an office and whether they’re secured. Crick said the record-keeping is necessary to make sure prescription drugs are “not easily diverted to an illegal use.”

The last time a Chargers doctor was under scrutiny with regard to prescription drug regulations was in 2002, when Chao was issued a $1,000 citation by the state medical board for failure to maintain adequate and accurate medical records. The charge stemmed from allegations that Chao had unlawfully written narcotics prescriptions for former Chargers physician Dr. Gary Losse, whose alleged addiction to such narcotics led to him being dropped by the Chargers in 1998, according to court records. Godes said that matter is a “dead issue” and not likely of current interest to the DEA.